The Undead and the Elves

An indescribable sensation washed over him. Hahaha Hades felt as though something were missing, leaving a hollow void in his heart. It was as if something that should have been there had been forcibly ripped away.

He reached out and held his hands before his face. The sight of those white, withered bones made his heart tighten. He stumbled backward in a panic, his mind filled with terror.

Imagine, if you will, waking up one day to find the flesh and skin of your hands completely vanished, replaced by bare bone. No one could remain calm under such circumstances.

Although Hahaha Hades had mentally prepared himself, he was still shaken by his own appearance.

Yet, in the next second, that feeling of terror vanished without a trace, and his heart settled into an incomparable calm, as if nothing in the world could ever stir a ripple within him again.

"I really have become an undead."

Hahaha Hades wiggled his fingers. Though they lacked a shred of flesh, they moved exactly as he willed. He did not understand how bones could move without muscles to drive them, but the fact remained.

He touched his cheeks with those skeletal hands; they were indeed a skull. Hahaha Hades turned his body, finding no discomfort. He possessed not only a sense of touch but even a sense of smell.

Pulling aside his purple-gold-trimmed mage robes, Hahaha Hades reached through his ribs and into his own chest cavity.

"Empty, just as I thought..."

Hahaha Hades paused, unable to grasp the mechanics of this body. It was clearly nothing but a skeleton, yet it possessed tactile sensation and even a sense of pain, however faint.

There were no organs within his ribcage, yet he had a sense of smell. If he lacked lungs, how could he draw air into his body to identify scents?

Hahaha Hades had assumed that if he possessed a sense of smell, he would at least have lungs, even if they were invisible. But when he felt around, there was truly nothing but bone.

Clearly, it was a mistake to measure this world by the laws of his original one. Hahaha Hades gave up on researching the principles of undead physiology; now was not the time for such studies.

"Seed of the World Tree activated successfully. Currently an undead, with an Elf race also stored. Hmm... two minutes until it can be activated again..."

The Seed of the World Tree was pressed tightly against the bone of Hahaha Hades' right wrist. Each activation carried a two-minute cooldown.

His undead body made him realize more clearly than ever that this was the real world. In YGGDRASIL, changing races caused no physiological changes for players, but he was not yet accustomed to his current state.

In YGGDRASIL, one could only change races using the Seed of the World Tree. Since he possessed this World Item, Hahaha Hades had stored the undead race in one of the two available slots to ensure the feature did not go to waste.

Although he was unaccustomed to the undead state and wanted to switch to the final stored race, there was one more thing he needed to confirm. Hahaha Hades attempted to call up the status panel for his undead character.

Sure enough, the next moment, the data for his undead character appeared in his mind.

Character Name: Hahaha Hades

Race: Undead

Gender: Male

Karma: -500

Alignment: Extremely Evil

Role: Magic Caster (Mana-based, Elemental Specialization)

Racial Levels: Skeleton Mage 15, Death Archmage 10, Dark Night Death Archmage 10, Ruler of Death Sage 5.

Job Levels: Elemental Mage (Earth Specialization) 10, Elemental Archmage 10, Elemental Communicator 10, Earth Connector 10, Earth Overlord 10, Evoker 5, Sculptor 5.

Unlike the pure Warrior of the human race, his second race was a pure magic caster. While this build could not achieve peak firepower, he had his reasons for choosing it.

The cause was none other than the influence of the Seed of the World Tree. Because he could switch between stored races, he could use this trait to cast various buffs on himself while in his magic caster form, then switch races to transfer those buffs to his Warrior character.

In this way, as a Warrior, it was as if he always had a mage by his side to buff him, even if an Earth-specialized magic caster wasn't the ideal buffer.

However, the high-tier job "Evoker" had excellent synergy with the Warrior class. Had World Items not been banned in official tournaments, Hahaha Hades could have easily taken the world championship relying solely on this trait.

Without the Seed of the World Tree, he would have considered adding more casting jobs to ensure he had no weaknesses, but with this World Item, committing to one path was the optimal choice.

Of course, this did not mean that possessing the Seed of the World Tree guaranteed strength surpassing a world champion. To fully utilize the Seed and achieve a result where 1+1 is greater than 2, a player needed to be intimately familiar with their stored characters, knowing how to combine skills and magic for maximum effect.

Furthermore, the equipment for each character could not be subpar; otherwise, no matter how well they were coordinated, they could never achieve that 1+1 > 2 effect.

But for Hahaha Hades, who lacked for nothing, every race character was equipped with a full set of divine-tier gear.

"Flight."

Hahaha Hades cast the flight spell. The weightless sensation returned. Just as when using the Necklace of Flight, the knowledge of how to control his flight felt as if it were etched into his brain like an instinct.

"Now, let's try the final race."

He canceled the flight spell. The cooldown for the Seed of the World Tree had ended. Hahaha Hades activated it again, and his skeletal body began to expand and twist. In the space of a single breath, he transformed from a skeleton into a living human.

Hahaha Hades suddenly noticed that the void he felt as an undead had been filled; the hollow feeling in his heart had vanished without a trace, and he felt whole once more.

So, this was the physical change brought about by the race. Although his current appearance looked human, he was not a pure human; otherwise, according to the rules of the Seed of the World Tree, he would not have been able to store a character of the same race.

Following the same procedure as before, the information for his current race character appeared in his mind.

Character Name: Hahaha Hades

Race: Elf

Gender: Male

Karma: 0

Alignment: Neutral

Role: Production

Job Levels: Blacksmith 10, Armor Smith 10, Weapon Smith 10, Item Smith 10, Alchemist 10, Pharmacist 10, Poison Maker 10, Sage 10, High Sage 5, Warrior 15.